The invention relates to the field of telecommunications and, more particularly, to an inmate messaging system and method for notifying an inmate in a prison facility of messages received from a caller outside the prison facility.
Conventional inmate telephone systems and methods require an inmate to arrange a time with a remote party for executing a telephone call. Unfortunately, the remote party often cannot take the call from the inmate because of sudden schedule conflicts, thus forcing the inmate to call again at a later time. These repetitive outgoing calls, when multiplied by the number of inmates in a typical prison facility, can generate large telephone bills that must be paid by the prison facility.
In conventional messaging systems, a user acquires a messaging device from a service provider. The user is contacted by a third party by calling into a messaging system which, in turn, calls the user""s pager to deliver a voice or numeric message from the third party. Such conventional systems, however, are not practical in a controlled prison environment where prisoners"" communications with remote parties must be carefully monitored for illegal activity. Nor is it desirable to place electronic devices in the hands of prisoners who are notorious for their clever exploitation of prison property for personal gain or advantage.
Accordingly, there is a need within the inmate telephone industry to facilitate notification of inmates when a remote party desires to communicate with an inmate via the inmate telephone system. Such a system and method should capture and allocate costs associated with operating the inmate telephone system, and facilitate the billing of the appropriate remote parties. Additionally, such a system and method should be adapted to function in a prison environment to prevent the inmates from exploiting the system for personal gain or advantage.
The present invention is directed to an inmate messaging system and method for notifying an inmate in a prison facility of messages received from a caller outside the prison facility.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a remote caller establishes a message account with an inmate messaging system responsible for providing messaging services to a prison facility. The remote caller""s account information is processed by the inmate messaging system in an automated manner. Preferably, remote caller accounts are accessed with, for example, an account number and a Personal Identification Number (xe2x80x9cPINxe2x80x9d), or other identification information, such as voice recognition or bar codes on calling cards. If PINs are used, then a different PIN can be assigned to the remote caller and the inmate to allow both parties to access the same account. Each remote caller can contact several inmates, but each inmate preferably appears on an active list of inmates stored in an remote caller database in the inmate messaging system. Charges for use of the system can be based on a per inmate basis.
A remote caller can activate the messaging service by recording his or her name when setting up an account with the inmate messaging system. These name recordings are used by the inmate messaging system to identify the owner of the account when an inmate retrieves messages, and to verify the account when the remote caller leaves a message for an inmate.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a remote caller creates a name recording by dialing into the inmate messaging system and recording his or her name in response to audio message prompts. The remote caller""s name is digitized by a speech digitizer and written to a file in disk storage. The remote caller is then allowed to hear and confirm the name recording. If the remote caller confirms the name recording, the remote caller continues with the call session. If the remote caller rejects the name recording, a predetermined number of additional attempts to get an acceptable recording are offered to the remote caller. If these attempts fail also, the remote caller must call a messaging service operator for assistance. Name recordings may not be changed after the initial setup session without first contacting the messaging service operator.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, an audio menu of options is provided to an inmate when he picks up the receiver of the inmate telephone system. If messages are pending for inmates residing in the vicinity of the phone (e.g., within a prison cell block), one option is to retrieve a list of such messages. Preferably, the inmate messaging system plays back the list of pending messages for inmates in the cell block in response to an inmate lifting the telephone receiver off its hook. The inmate messaging system also provides a function that allows inmates to check their own messages.
To simplify the checking of pending messages by inmates, digitized name recordings can be played back to the inmate instead of account or PIN numbers. For example, when checking for messages for a specific inmate, the inmate messaging system asks the inmate to enter an account number and a PIN. The inmate then enters an account number and PIN. If one or more messages exist for that account number, the inmate messaging system informs the inmate of the pending messages by playing the recorded name of the remote caller that is associated with the message account storing the message.
In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, after the inmate messaging system identifies pending messages for the inmate, the inmate messaging system informs the inmate that a return call can be made to the remote caller at anytime, or at a specific time entered by the remote caller. If no specific time is stated, the inmate messaging system asks the inmate if he/she wants to return the call now, later, or never by pressing the appropriate key on the telephone. Depending on the inmate""s response, the inmate messaging system will place the call and mark the message as completed, or if refused, mark the message as refused. The remote caller can then retrieve this information to determine the disposition of the call, thus precluding the remote caller from thinking that the inmate telephone system is not working. If there is a specific time listed for the inmate to return a call, the inmate is informed of such time and prompted to call back at that time. Preferably, pending messages for a particular inmate are delivered to the cell block where the inmate is housed each time an inmate picks up the phone receiver to place a call.
An advantage of present invention is that inmates in a prison facility can be notified of pending messages in an efficient and economical manner. For example, the preferred embodiment of the present invention allows the remote caller to specify a call back time with the message to ensure that the remote caller is available to receive the return call from the inmate.
Another advantage of the present invention is that all messaging functions are properly controlled by the messaging system to prevent their exploitation by inmates.
Still another advantage of the present invention is the ability to track messages between remote callers and inmates for both billing and security purposes. All costs accrued during the use of the inmate messaging system are accounted for by the inmate messaging system to ensure that the appropriate party (e.g., the remote caller) is billed by the messaging service.